Obsessions: N95 Tips: Close Applications Properly

I've now had my phone for almost a week and for the most part, it works marvelously well. No major complaints - though I do occasionally have trouble sending email and for one reason or another the YouTube app I installed only works over a wifi network but other than that, no complaints - other than the minor one that you can't use the phone's built-in flash during video recording (bummer).

I've slowly been personalizing the phone - setting up my Gmail so that I can send mail, installing new themes and ringtones but it's the calendar sync that has made me most excited. A how to on that will be coming next week. For now, I wanted to share one tip that every N95 needs to be aware of.

The S60 platform which runs on the N95s is awesome. It also acts a lot like a computer. So much so that it runs applications in the background. So if you open up an app, lets say the calendar, and then click on your back button to go into your phonebook to make a call, the calendar app is still running in the background. I'm assuming that's not a huge deal in the short term but if these unused apps are running all the time, they're likely to suck a whole lot of power from your battery.

The next time you go into your menu and see a semi circle hovering beside an application (not the red arrow - that's my addition), it means that the app is running. Example:

If you're in the folder menu, you may see this:

The second graphic tells you that one (or more) of the apps inside that folder are currently running. To exit out of them click into the folder, find the app(s) marked as running go into them and exit correctly. For the most part, that means going into the "Options" and then scroll to "Exit".

Coming next will, hopefully, be a how to demonstration on using your bluetooth headset as a microphone and also a how to on integrating the Google Calendar with the phone's built in calendar.

If you have any tips, tricks, fave apps or anything else about your N95 you'd like to share, please do! I'm looking to get the most out of my new piece of technology!